For North American sports fans, it’s the most significant free agency splash since “The Decision” (2010), when LeBron James departed Cleveland for Miami. Financially, it’s substantially larger than that. Furthermore, from a competitive standpoint, it could be the game-changing factor in the ongoing arms race between the most expensive clubs in baseball.

Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers have inked a 10-year, $700 million deal. Ohtani is the first pitcher-designated hitter in MLB history. Once finalized, the deal will surpass all others in American sports history in terms of overall and yearly value. The 29-year-old made the announcement on Saturday that he was leaving the Los Angeles Angels, who are located across town, to join the Dodgers. Ohtani will not be able to pitch again until at least the 2025 season due to a ruptured ulnar collateral ligament, so it’s possible that the club is waiting for the results of a physical checkup before acknowledging the deal on Sunday. Ohtani will relocate from Anaheim to Chavez Ravine once the trade is finalized. One of the top teams in the league will gain its most valuable player when he finishes his transfer.

No one has ever played like Ohtani before. He surpasses even the great Bаbe Ruth, who Һit brilliantly and pitched for a while before deciding to concentrate only on his bat, as the greatest hitter and pitcher that baseball has ever seen. Ohtani is one of the finest pitchers in the league, but the Dodgers will have to wait to reap the benefits of his production due to his UCL ιnjury. However, he should be a rock for the rest of the team’s pitchers when he steps on the mound: His 2.84 earned run average ranks seventh among eligible players over the last three years, and he has struck out more than 11 batters per nine innings. A ferocious 97 mph fastball and a slow, sweeping curveball are Ohtani’s claims to fаme. In the same vein, batters have had a hard time winning.

But don’t worry—the Japanese superstar will start hitting right immediately. Ohtani was at his best in the at-bat when he earned MVP of the American League for the second year in a row in 2023. If Ohtani’s season hadn’t ended in early September due to an ιnjury, he would have Һit more than 50 home runs. (On 31.2% of his flyballs, he got out of the yard; nobody else got out of the yard more than 28%). Ohtani is a devastating hitter who, in contrast to many sluggers, hits the ball hard and to every field without striking out a ton of people. The Dodgers will get the best designated hitter in baseball right away from him. Ohtani will relish playing half of his games in Dodger Stadium, the second-friendliest ballpark in baseball for long run-mashers like himself, in that role (even if he doesn’t pitch).

Although the Dodgers will undoubtedly benefit on the field, they will also reap enormous financial rewards from acquiring Ohtani.

MLB teams are extremely frugal, but they don’t spend money unless they know they’ll get it back. The Dodgers anticipate a massive increase in ticket sales, merchandise sales, and television ratings, therefore they have decided that $70 million per year for Ohtani is probably not too rich. (Ohtani’s position as a global superstar certainly lends credence to their argument.) The Dodgers know that great baseball players are an investment, not a cost, and they will get a huge return on their investment when Shohei Ohtani hits home runs while wearing their uniform. He is the most renowned athlete—if not the most famous person—in Japan, so his comeback there will be especially lucrative. Many of his admirers in his own country waited in line on Sunday to purchаse special edition newspapers that announced the transfer. There are a lot of people in Japan—nearly 125 million—who could buy Dodgers jerseys.

The decision to trade Ohtani will be worthwhile for baseball fans outside of Japan because it will allow them to witness a truly exceptional player in crucial games towards the end of the season. Despite having Ohtani and Mike Trout, who would be inducted into the Hall of Fаme as a center fielder on the first vote, the Angels failed to reach the playoffs once in the previous six years.

This failure to do so is the greatest tragedy, or travesty, in baseball history. Ohtani was obviously affected by such setbacks; he consented to large compensation deferrals so that the Dodgers could build a competitive club around him and incur reduced fines under MLB’s revenue-sharing rules. Even before acquiring Ohtani, the Dodgers made it clear that they wouldn’t be missing out on the postseason anytime soon; they’ve won the National League West ten times in the last eleven years. They’ll put him in the starting lineup beside Freddie Freeman and outfielder Mookie Betts, two superstars. The Dodgers currently boast three of the top ten batters in the world, if conservative estimates are to be believed.